Outside The Game: Patrick Peterson prepares friend Tyrann Mathieu for an NFL career

We all make mistakes, sometimes very big ones. But if we're lucky, there's someone around to pick us up, to help us to our feet, to get us back on the right path. Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals has taken on this challenge with Tyrann Mathieu, the controversial former LSU cornerback now seeking a job in the NFL. The two are the focus of this week's Yahoo! Sports Outside The Game feature.

Peterson, already a two-time Pro Bowler in just his second year, is an ideal role model for someone like Mathieu. Peterson credits the influence of his father in keeping on the straight-and-narrow. And now Peterson is trying to pay the favor forward, focusing on the disgraced Mathieu. Once a Heisman finalist, Mathieu couldn't avoid trouble and ended up getting kicked off the team in 2012 for drug violations.

Peterson is already an inspiration. And if Mathieu is able to turn his life around, he too will be a role model for young people who have made mistakes, sometimes very big ones.